


Kundiman

by txgrerra



Category: Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral (2018)
Genre: M/M, i couldn't decide whether i should go for a bandmates or rival bands thing, i have no other excuse other than those stupid memes, in the end i did neither lmao, this is the fault of those bonizal guitarist shitposts damnit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28592319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/txgrerra/pseuds/txgrerra
Summary: Andres Bonifacio and Jose Rizal have not been in touch for a decade. Now, their bands have to perform at the same concert.
Relationships: Andrés Bonifacio/José Rizal





	Kundiman

**Author's Note:**

> This was the brainfart that resulted from those shitposts where Andoy and Pepe were drawn as guitarists. I do admit that it became kinda like,,, anime-y at the ending but I have: zero absolute regrets.
> 
> Just because I didn't get to add this in the fic, Pepe's bandmates are Selong, the Luna trio (Juan, Manuel, and Antonio), and Jose Alejandrino. And let's pretend that, for this fic, Pepe can sing (because, historically, he can't skjddfhksjddfhks)

The poster for the year-end multi-band concert stared Andres Bonifacio in the face like it was mocking his very person.

Approximately three months ago, his band, Katipunan, received an invitation to participate in said multi-band concert entitled “Paghimig Natin”, which was meant to be a celebratory concert that would be the highlight of New Year’s Eve. For a growing band such as them, it was like a testament that they’re slowly achieving something more with their career as musicians.

When the concert was finally announced, the management company that handled the event teased the participating bands one by one. A warm, fuzzy feeling of pride swelled inside his chest when he saw that there were many people expecting their performance based on the Facebook and Twitter posts.

A month before the concert, however, he had nearly choked on his hamburger when a certain band was confirmed for the same event.

Calle Ilustrado.

It wasn’t like they were rival bands. Katipunan and Calle Ilustrado dabbled in different genres — Katipunan was more alternative rock and Calle Ilustrado was a primarily pop punk band. So, there was no competition there.

The problem was the band members. Specifically, Jose Rizal: Calle Ilustrado’s lead guitarist.

Now, just hours before the concert began, the band’s name on the completed lineup printed on the concert poster glared at him. Reminding him of a past he tried getting over from for years now.

“Hey, Andie, you’re going to bore holes in the wall staring at the poster like that,” Gregoria de Jesus, or more commonly known as Ria to everyone else, chuckled at him as he patted the guitarist’s back.

“Sorry. I’m just a little nervous.”

Ria smiled slightly. She knew why Andie was so bothered about it, of course, but she also couldn’t help but prod him just a little. “Calle Ilustrado?”

“JP.”

JP. Jose (Protacio) Rizal.

“He was your high school friend, right?”

Friend. Yes. They were never really anything more than friends. But he harbored such a deep crush for JP that, when JP kissed him on the cheek in a secluded staircase of their school, near the canteen, he ran a fever for two days straight.

He was the one who taught JP how to play the guitar. Back then, JP couldn’t even hold a tune, but he picked up on playing the guitar fairly quickly that, whenever there were no teachers around, he and Andie would have jamming sessions at the back of the classroom, nevermind the fact that Andie and JP had different rooms.

All his hopes and dreams (or maybe just his infatuation for JP) came to a painful halt when he woke up to the realization that JP’s kiss wasn’t anything that was special. He did that to various female and male classmates. And as a fifteen-year-old, that was Andie’s first heartbreak.

( _Ridiculous_ , he would often chastise himself. _JP and I were never together, so why was I so heartbroken about it._ )

“Yeah. Friend. Anyway, I’m just a little nervous, is all. I haven’t seen him in a decade.”

Ria pulled him away from the poster. “You’ll be fine. Show him the Andres Bonifacio that he missed out on all these years, if you want.”

That was a thought. He could always go for the petty route and put on a show just to make JP regret ever playing with Andie’s poor, tender, fifteen-year-old heart like that. But a part of Andie’s mind told him that it would be pointless — it wasn’t as if JP especially felt any semblance of guilt over it.

In fact, he never really seemed to realize Andie’s feelings before. And he would’ve probably brushed it off like he did with so many people after a while. For JP, it was always the next romantic conquest, be it girl or boy. He would’ve discarded Andie after a while, and that would’ve probably hurt Andie more than he already did.

Shaking the reminiscing from his head, Andie walked back with Ria to the room allotted for them backstage. It wasn’t especially grand — just a small dressing room enough to house the five members of Katipunan, including him.

Procopio, his brother and the bass guitarist, was busy fiddling with his phone (probably talking to his boyfriend or something), while Ciriaco, his other brother and the band’s drummer, was in the middle of trying to find a good shirt to wear on stage. Emilio Jacinto, their cellist, was reviewing their set _for the umpteenth time_. Ria had gone to pick up her violin from its case and do last-minute checkups on string tension and sound quality.

Seeing their bandmates so relaxed helped put Andie’s mind at relative peace. And maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t even encounter JP during the entire concert or even anywhere in the arena. There were several acts and he could always just stay in their waiting room until they were needed on stage.

Life doesn’t work that way, unfortunately, and that was the exact thing that Andie thought when he found himself (and his band) standing next to Calle Ilustrado. Literally.

Apparently, the lineup changed because three of the bands came late to the arena because of a traffic incident along the way. So, they had to bump up Calle Ilustrado’s set to come after Katipunan’s.

Andie and JP were standing, even more literally, next to each other, watching their bandmates interact. Calle Ilustrado was one of the most popular pop punk bands in the country in the last half decade, so it was naturally understandable for Katipunan to be a little intimidated at first. But they were soon blending together seamlessly, though Marcelo del Pilar had naturally been acting like the father to everyone as he was still the eldest.

“So… nice to see you again, Andie!” JP chirped happily beside him, which nearly made Andie jump from his skin.

“N-Nice to see you again…”

“I haven’t seen you in like a decade!” JP grinned. “You really grew tall, huh? You’re even taller than me now, when back then you were so shrimpy and cute.”

Andie wanted so badly to run away. He didn’t want to strike up a conversation with JP. He didn’t want to fall back into the same stride as they had before. He didn’t want to know what has been up with JP’s glamorous life and he didn’t want JP to know about what he’s been up to all these years. He doesn’t want JP to ask why Andie drifted away from him when they graduated from high school.

He didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that, all this time, he's still in love with JP.

“Uhh, yeah. Milk and all that.”

“So—”

“Katipunan!” the stage manager hollered, “Get ready to go on stage! Last minute!”

 _Saved!_ Andie hurriedly excused himself and ran to the side of the stage, just behind the curtain, where his bandmates had already convened. He tried to busy himself with last-minute reminders, as well as a short booster message, despite knowing the fact that JP was staring at him like the other musician was trying to bore holes in his head.

Taking a deep breath, Andie secured the guitar slung across his body. Ria had taken up the mic to do some greetings for their fans, who were shrieking and hollering in excitement from the mosh pit.

“What’s up, Katipuneros!”

Taking advantage of everyone’s distraction, he took a quick glance back to Calle Ilustrado, and after noting that JP was busy talking to the stage manager, he took the light red plectrum from his pants pocket—the same plectrum that matched JP’s blue one back when they were in high school—and kissed it lightly. It had always been a gesture that helped him… in a way.

Like he was tapping back to the bittersweet sensations of having feelings for JP back in high school. The infatuation that helped him write their love songs, and the hurt that helped him pen their heartbreak tunes.

Katipunan’s fans noticed that gesture when they were becoming a known name. They had different speculations, like was Andie doing it because it was like an expression of his love of music? Was it because he was dedicating their songs to someone who was long gone from the world? Was he praying (as if)?

The band started with one of their breakout hits, _Kundiman_. Before long, Andie had forgotten JP’s presence, which was ironic considering that many of their songs were intended to be Andie’s expressions of feelings _for_ JP.

After five more songs, Katipunan bid their temporary farewell before walking offstage. As expected, Calle Ilustrado was there to greet them, the two groups converging like a smooth river flow.

Andie blinked. Something hard, like plastic, ran through his wavy hair when JP passed him by. He looked back, instinctively grasping his hair, and JP met him back with a smile, holding up the blue plectrum that matched Andie’s red one.

“Kuya?” Pio quipped.

But Andie didn’t hear him. He was fixated on the smile that JP left lingering on his mind, even if JP had already taken his place in front of the mic. That was the same smile that said _“Watch me.”_

And Andie always watched him.

“Good evening, everyone!” JP announced through the mic. “How’s your New Year’s Eve?”

The fans answered him with screams that could probably shake the arena’s foundations. They had to wait for the noise to die down before JP could speak again.

“I hope you’re having a blast so far and that you’re with your most important people tonight! Even for those watching the concert at home, I hope you’re all enjoying your time! Now, I have an important announcement.”

Everyone was quiet, even JP’s bandmates. What announcement? Was this a declaration of a band break-up? Hiatus? His personal hiatus? Did he get someone pregnant?

“I want you all to know that my most important person is here in the arena tonight. And—” JP looked at the side stage, where Andie was still standing, watching him, “—I’ve been searching for him for ten years. After we graduated high school.”

Andie blinked. The words weren’t even registering in his mind. What was JP saying? Why was JP looking at him like he saw an angel? Why were the fans screaming even louder than earlier?

JP paid them no heed. “And, after our set, I will spend every minute, every second, making it up to him. Maybe even get a New Year’s kiss from him, who knows? But I want to recover the past ten years that were wasted because I was an idiot of a child who couldn’t see what I had until it disappeared from my grasp.”

That somehow woke Andie up from his stupor. Okay, maybe his brothers’ hollering, Ria’s amused laughter, and Emil’s slight push on his back did snap him out, too. He grabbed a mic from the stage manager, turned it on, and shouted.

“JUST PLAY, YOU DAMN RIZAL! PLAY AND THEN MAKE IT UP TO ME LATER! SHOW ME YOUR MUSIC—THE MUSIC THAT I LOVE!”

Because, for the half decade that Calle Ilustrado had made music, Andie listened to them. Was a dedicated, if secret, fan. He may have always hidden from JP after high school, but he always loved JP’s music.

That made JP smile brighter—brighter than Andie has ever seen him do—and start playing. One of their rare pop punk love songs.

None of the bands’ members would spill about what happened backstage after that whole chaos. But maybe the fans weren’t wrong to assume that the pair were inseparable until well into the early morning, even with everyone else around them, but not after Andie had probably cried. Who knows what really happened.

And who knows when they’ll be announcing their marriage. But maybe that’s for years later.

**Author's Note:**

> Plectrum for those who don't know (including me like 10 minutes ago sldjfhskjdf) is the guitar pick. Also I like to imagine that Katipunan is this universe's Silent Sanctuary (hence me patterning the band positions after SS' lineup), while Calle Ilustrado is like Mayday Parade I guess?
> 
> Yes I have biases.


End file.
